Ninniach
by Anatriel
Summary: A dark wizard reaches Sauron and reveals the future of The One Ring to him. Sauron learns of Isildur's heir and builds a plan that will distract Aragorn from his destiny, while he's free to takes over Middle-Earth again. Aragorn/Arwen story.


TITLE: Ninniach  
  
RATING: PG-13 (for now)  
  
SUMMARY: A dark wizard reaches Sauron and reveals the future of The One Ring to him. Sauron learns of Isildur's heir and builds a plan that will distract Aragorn from his destiny, while he's free to takes over Middle-Earth again. Aragorn/Arwen story.   
  
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Tolkien and to anyone who has rights over them. They do not belong to me.  
  
Author's Note: This is a first sketch, i want to see how it is accepted and see if i should continue.  
  
  
  
  
CHAPTER ONE: THE SUNDOWN OF THE EVENSTAR  
  
  
  
  
darkness fell on Edoras and the moon did not shine. Aragorn sat in the old watch tower, his sword resting against him. He looked upon the ominous starless sky.  
A soft, unnoticeable footstep reached him.   
"It is yet calm outside," Legolas spoke and startled Aragorn in his seat.  
The weary ranger looked at the elf and returned his stare to the murk  
outside.  
"They won't come tonight." The elven prince moved closer.   
"It is not the enemy that troubles me." Aragorn replied and got up, the  
sheath sliding across his hip.   
"I will watch now. Go and rest." Legolas stepped to the skylight in the  
stone wall. His eyes caught a dim glitter in the gloom. "Ai! Something is  
coming!" He called and Aragorn swiftly stepped back to have a look. "I don't  
see anything. What is it you see, Legolas?"  
"The Dúnedain ! The Dúnedain are coming!" The elf called. "Elves are with  
them. How long it was since I've seen a kinsman!" Legolas didn't hide the  
excitement in his voice.  
Aragorn stared blindly into the blackness, unsure whether to rejoice with  
the elf or sink into the despair the moonless night evoked in him. He could  
tell the end was near, for better or worse.   
Legolas laid his hand on the weary man's shoulder. "It is in the darkest of  
times that we shall find the light again. Do not let the starless night  
decieve you."  
Aragorn let out a small smile and they strode down the stairs of the watch  
tower.   
  
  
The guards of Théodon, King of the Mark, were already riding on their  
horses, on their way to meet the strangers.   
"Hasuful!" Aragorn called and both he and Legolas ran to their horses,  
preparing to catch up with the riders of Rohan.  
It wasn't long before they met with the other riders. The horses of the  
visitors neighed and halted, as they were circled and surrounded by the  
Rohirrim.  
Aragorn broke the circle, jumping from his horse and running to the leader  
of the company.  
"Halbarad!" He called, and for the first time in a long while he smiled  
geuinely.  
"Aragorn!" Halbarad dismounted and went over to Aragorn, embracing him in a  
warm friendly hug.   
"I have only dreamed you'd come." Aragorn expressed, his eyes wandering to  
the companions of his friend, rangers from the north.   
"Who are they?" Éomer dismounted as well and approached Aragorn.  
"They," Halbarad answered, looking at Éomer. "Are rangers from the north. We  
have come to help Gondor in the war against Mordor."   
"Have you brought archers from Mirkwood?" Legolas asked hopefully.   
"Nay, but Elrond's sons from Rivendell." Halbarad said, looking back.   
Two fair and tall elves, with long dark hair, led their horses to the front.  
"But we are not alone, Legolas." Elladan spoke.   
Elrohir looked away, uncomfortable. "It is a dark time indeed." He muttered.  
  
  
Legolas saw the other elves in the back of the group. "Is Lord Elrond safe?"  
He asked, causing Strider to look up at the elf in alarm. But Elrohir did  
not respond. He rode to the back.   
"I bring a message from lord Elrond. Remember the Path of the Dead, he said." Halbarad  
looked at Aragorn. "It has begun."  
The Rohirrim started heading back to the palace. Aragorn and Legolas mounted  
their horses and rode after them, followed by the visitors.  
  
  
At last, they reached the palace. Leaving their tired beasts to the care of  
the stable masters, Aragorn studied the elves that walked proudly into the  
house, lighting the way in the darkness. Then he saw Elrohir. He wasn't in  
the front with his brother Elladan, but in the back, among a group of elves  
that Aragorn recognized from Rivendell. The darkness was banished when he  
laid his eyes upon the beautiful Lady Arwen Evenstar, daughter of Elrond.  
The bright light seemed to come from within her, and she cocked her head and  
looked into his eyes. He felt comforted by her sight, and at the same time,  
fear nestled inside him.  
"Undómiel! It is true then!" Legolas stepped next to Aragorn, forcing  
the man to look away from Arwen.  
"I have heard dark tidings." The elf sighed. "The shadow have reached  
Rivendell. Harbingers of death. The elves are leaving Mirkwood and  
Middle-Earth. In great peril they have brought Undómiel here, for it is  
said that Sauron seeks for the Evenstar."  
"No!" Aragorn exclaimed and paced forward. But Arwen was no longer there. He  
left Legolas and walked inside.  
  
  
Aragorn stormed inside after the rangers. He spotted Elladan and grabbed his  
arm.  
"Why have you brought her here? It is not safe!"   
"It is more perilous in Mirkwood. She will be safer with us." The elf  
replied calmly.   
"Before dawn breaks we ride for war." Aragorn stressed.  
"Then I suggest you take some rest and recover your strength, Aragorn  
Elessar." The halfelven said calmly.  
  
  
***  
  
Éowyn hid herself well in the shadows. The clouds began to give way to the  
moon.  
There was no one to be seen walking the darkened halls of the castle. She  
could hear whisperings and followed the sound, walking to the light.  
She stopped behind a pillar and glanced at the veranda.   
The terrace was bathed in moonlight. She could see Aragorn, she identified  
him immidiately, for she has been looking for him. She recognized the elven  
lady that was brought there in early after dark hours. She could not  
understand what they were saying, they spoke low in a weird tongue, an elvish tongue.  
  
  
"I do not wish to stay here." Arwen said in her own tongue.   
"The battle fields are not a place for you. There is no light where I'm  
going to." Aragorn said.  
"If death awaits us, then we will meet our fate together." She insisted.  
"No, I cannot allow it. Before dawn breaks forth, I will go through the Path  
of the Dead, but there's something I must do now. It will be safe here once  
we all leave. For the fight is in Gondor. And even if we do not win there, then  
all hope is not yet lost." Aragorn spoke the language fluently and quickly,  
eager to move on. "For our fate lies in the hands of the Ring-Bearer."  
She laid her hand on his brow and trailed it down his cheek, caressing his  
stubble.   
"I feel..." She looked into his eyes. "That the end is near. My heart tells  
me so." She didn't take her eyes away from his. "Something is not right,  
Estel."  
"Don't say that, my love." He whispered even lower. He sent his hands and  
took off the pendant which she gave him ere his parting from Rivendell  
with the company.   
"No." She held his hand. "I gave it to you."  
"I want you to keep it until we meet again, after the battle." He said  
softly. "Give it to me then, this is my pledge that I shall return."  
She didn't respond, but she let him put it around her neck.  
  
  
Éowyn watched and listened patiently to the soft words which she did not  
understand.   
She felt a pinch of jealousy in her pained heart. She guessed they said  
their words of goodbye when they embraced, and she slipped back into the  
shadows.  
  
  
***  
  
  
"My lord!" Éowyn fell on Aragorn's neck as he headed for his rooms. He  
stepped out of the circle of her arms. "What is it?" He asked quietly. "Why  
are you not sleeping?"  
"I could find no rest. I have been looking for you." She looked at him. He  
didn't reply, only looked at her in silence.   
"Is that pity I see in your eyes?" She asked after a moment. "A royal maiden  
making fool of herself in front of Gondor's heir?"  
"The hour is late and I am weary, milady. A hard day awaits. It is not pity,  
for I have great respect for you, Lady of Rohan. But I shall hope to talk to  
you when it is all over, and the peril no longer hovers." He spoke slowly  
and softly, before walking away into his room.   
Éowyn looked at him walking away. "Are you and the elf-"  
But Aragorn was no longer in sight.   
A shadow darkened Éowyn's face. "Then I shalt do what he asked of me, for he  
spoke the truth."  
  
  
***  
  
Arwen headed to the rooms which were alloted to her use. Her eyes fell upon  
the elven guards that her father insisted on sending with her, while her  
brothers will take active part in the war. The armored elves were sleeping  
their light night sleep, their eyes open, and yet they were standing still,  
like proud statues. She looked away to see a young maiden stepping down the  
stairs.  
  
  
Éowyn looked at the elven lady. Surely, it wasn't a common sight in Rohan.  
It's been years and years since elves walked in that land, let alone elven  
ladies. She was tall and her beauty could not be described in the language  
of men.  
The elven lady looked at her, and Eowyn felt like she was reading her. She  
didn't know what powers elves possessed, but she knew they had some kind of  
foresight. She thought again about the tales she was told in her childhood,  
about the lady of the wood, the elven witch.  
She walked over to the elven lady.   
  
  
"You're lord Aragorn's friend," Eowyn stated as she looked up at the  
beautiful elf.  
Arwen looked at her without a word.   
"Will you walk with me outside?" Eowyn asked, her expression turned calm, as  
if she were suddenly bewitched.   
  
  
The two maidens walked together out of the castle. Eowyn knew of a way to  
evade the guards and go out undetected. She used this way many times since  
her childhood.  
"I do not wish to stay behind with the wives whilst they go to war." She  
muttered as they stepped into the open. She studied the fair elf. "But you  
must have not such worries."  
"I do not pretend to subordinate the powers at work here. The cause is  
greater than my will."   
It was the first time Arwen have spoken to Eowyn.   
"This foe they cannot defeat." Eowyn proclaimed. "You do not wish it, but  
Lord Aragorn will go after you." Eowyn looked at the elven lady. Arwen  
stopped walking and looked at the horizon, before returning her piercing  
blue eyes to Eowyn in alarm.   
"He will go to his death." Eowyn said, looking at the dark ominous trees.   
Arwen took a step back, her senses filled with horror she recalled long ago-  
not in her bones, but in the face of her mother.   
Before she could react, Eowyn drew out a sword, a man's sword, hidden under  
the frills of her dress. It was not a minute before a swarm of orcs flowed  
through the woods, the rings of their mails clanked as they ran and circled  
the ladies.  
Their hideous faces were twisted in gloat, ogling their fine prey in lustful  
monstrous eyes.   
Arwen drew her elven sword, ready to join Eowyn in her battle with the orcs.  
To her shock, Eowyn wielded the sword and scarred her own face.   
"Take her..." She gritted her teeth as the blood washed her face. "Take her and  
spare me, as the eye commanded."  
  
  
***  
  
Legolas strolled across the wall. He was restless and peered outside into  
the gloom. In the distance he could hear squeals.  
"Orcs!" He whispered to himself and in light springs he leapt over the wall  
to the other side of the watch. The guard was asleep. Legolas glanced  
outside, and spotted the flock of dark figuers running in the woods.  
"Ai! Ai! Yrch!" He shouted in his native tongue and startled the  
sleeping guard.  
He jumped on the wall and strained his eyes. "But they are running away..."  
He murmured in wonder.  
He rushed down and yelled, waking up the sleeping elven guards and the  
entire castle as well.  
  
The Rohirrim were fast enough to mount their horses and ride outside, but  
they had seen nothing in the distance and no strange noise disturbed the  
sounds of the night.  
"Why have you created such alarm, master elf?" Eomer asked.  
Legolas looked around in wonder. "I saw orcs. My eyes are not deceiving." He  
insisted.  
Aragorn dismounted his horse and approached Legolas. "Where have you seen  
them?"  
"Eomer!" They all heard a faint voice. "Eomer!"  
And before them strode Eowyn. The frills of her dress were torn. She was  
bleeding and her hair was unkempt.  
"What happened, sister?" Eomer rushed over to her.   
"They were all around us..." Eowyn cocked her head and looked at Aragorn.   
He tensed and waited for her explanation.  
  
  
  
TBC? 


End file.
